Judge orders man to write 'boys do not hit girls'

AP

Wednesday

Dec 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Man ordered to write 'Boys do not hit girls'

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Montana judge who said a teen rape victim appeared "older than her chronological age" has sentenced a man convicted of punching his girlfriend to write "Boys do not hit girls" 5,000 times.

District Judge G. Todd Baugh also sentenced Pacer Anthony Ferguson, 27, to six months in jail and to pay $3,800 in restitution for fracturing the woman's face in three places during an August 2012 argument.

The judge ordered Ferguson on Monday to number the list, sign it and mail it to him by May 23, The Billings Gazette reported.

Baugh set off a public furor when he made the comment about the 14-year-old rape victim and sentenced her teacher-rapist to only a month in prison. The state is appealing the sentence and women's groups are calling for Baugh's removal from the bench.

A jury earlier this month convicted Ferguson of misdemeanor assault, but acquitted him of felony aggravated assault and felony witness tampering after he admitted in court to punching the woman.

A surgeon implanted a permanent mesh titanium plate in the victim's face to repair the damage. The woman testified that she still suffers double vision when she looks up or down and that she has occasional pain and numbness in her face.

Ferguson also appeared Monday in a separate hearing before District Judge Gregory R. Todd for a hearing on a sentence for a felony attempted robbery in 2003.

In that case, Ferguson attempted to rob a man at knife point in a Walmart parking lot, according to court records.

Todd ruled that Ferguson violated the terms of his release for the 2003 robbery multiple times, including with the assault on the woman.

Todd revoked Ferguson's prior sentence and ordered him to spend eight years in the Montana State Prison to run concurrent to his sentence for the assault.

Chief Deputy Yellowstone County Attorney Juli M. Pierce said after the hearing that she respects the two sentences the judges gave Ferguson.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

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